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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23987290">in vino veritas</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sara_wolfe/pseuds/sara_wolfe'>sara_wolfe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drunken Confessions, Episode s02e18: A World of Trouble, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:20:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,713</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23987290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sara_wolfe/pseuds/sara_wolfe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A little bit of liquor...a whole lot of confession. </p>
<p>Magnum, and Higgins, and things left unsaid. (But not if their friends have anything to say about it.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Juliet Higgins &amp; Robin Masters, Juliet Higgins &amp; Teuila "Kumu" Tuileta, Juliet Higgins/Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV, Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV &amp; Orville Wilbur Richard "Rick" Wright, Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV &amp; Robin Masters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>197</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I watched the latest episode and I had Feelings about certain bits of dialogue</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rick cornered Thomas after the bachelor party had finally ended. </p><p>It was later than any of them had expected. Katsumoto had stopped by after his shift had ended to talk about some final case details with Thomas and wound up sticking around for a couple hands of poker, and then Higgy and Kumu had swung by after dinner, staying for drinks and conversation until well after midnight. But eventually the celebration had broken up, and everyone had drifted away until it was just him and Thomas left in the bar. </p><p>(Well, and Jin, but Rick had very strongly suggested he call himself an Uber to get back to Robin’s Nest, and Jin, for once, had taken the hint without arguing. But then, Rick had caught him sneaking looks at Thomas all night, looks that Rick might be tempted to call concerned, and maybe Jin was more perceptive than Rick had given him credit for.)</p><p>Thomas was still sitting at the table, idly tracing patterns in the condensation that had dripped off his beer bottle and onto the tabletop. He lifted his head as Rick dropped into the chair beside him, tried to muster up a faux-cheerful smile that Rick wasn’t buying for a second.</p><p>“You want to talk about what happened, today?” Rick asked, deciding that it was too late and he was too tired to be subtle. </p><p>Thomas made a good show of looking adorably confused, the kind of expression he’d worn many times before to great effect - but never with Rick. “I don’t know what-” he started, but Rick cut him off. </p><p>“I was kinda bummed,” he quoted softly, watching Thomas’s eyes widen in comprehension. “I was looking forward to the wedding.”</p><p>“Oh, you heard that, did you?” Thomas dropped the confused act in favor of a sheepish grin, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes and he started restlessly toying with his beer bottle again. </p><p>“I’m pretty sure the whole table heard that, brother,” Rick told him. </p><p>“Well, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” Thomas protested, weakly.</p><p>“You know why I don’t believe you?” Rick asked. Thomas opened his mouth, but Rick wasn’t about to give him time to answer. “If this was really just about Higgins staying in the country, then why would you care about whether she marries you, or TC, or hell, Katsumoto, so long as she doesn’t have to leave? Why would you be bummed about something like that?” He pinned Thomas with a sharp look. “I don’t think it’s about that.”</p><p>“You think what?” Thomas scoffed. “You think I’m in love with Higgins, or something?”</p><p>“If the shoe fits-”</p><p>“I am not in love with Higgins!” Thomas protested. “I want her to stay in the country because we do good work together, that’s all. Because this is her home, and she deserves to stay here. She’s an amazing partner, with a keen eye for investigation, and she’s a really good friend, and she’s smart, and kind, and compassionate, and - fuck me, I think I’m in love with Higgins.” </p><p>Rick bit back a startled laugh. Thomas didn’t usually swear; he must have been drunker than he looked.</p><p>“Took you long enough,” Rick teased him, as Thomas dropped his head into his hands with a muffled groan. </p><p>“What I am gonna do?” Thomas demanded. </p><p>Rick took a second to pretend to consider the myriad options in front of them. “You could - oh, I don’t know - you could try telling her how you feel?”</p><p>Thomas was already shaking his head. “I can’t,” he insisted. “Nuh-uh, no way, not a chance.”</p><p>“Why the hell not, man?” Rick demanded, a little louder than he’d intended. Clearly the alcohol was affecting him a bit, too. “C’mon, Tommy, what do you have to lose by telling Higgy how you really feel?”</p><p>“A good business partner and an even better friend,” came the immediate answer. “I can’t risk that, man. I <i>won’t</i>. If Higgy doesn’t feel the same way-”</p><p>“But what if she does?” Rick countered. From the utterly gobsmacked look on Thomas’s face, that possibility hadn’t even occurred to him. “Don’t you owe it to yourself, to both of you, to see if Higgy maybe shares some of those feelings of yours?”</p><p>Something like hope, agonizing and sweet, flashed briefly across Thomas’s face. But then it disappeared as quickly as it had come on, Thomas shaking his head in a fierce denial. </p><p>“She doesn’t,” he said, like it was a foregone conclusion. “I mean, why would she?”</p><p>Oh, yeah, Thomas was definitely drunker than he looked. He never would have let himself be so vulnerable, otherwise. </p><p>Well, Rick was going to cut that shit right out. </p><p>“Why wouldn’t she?” he shot back. Thomas looked like he had an answer, but Rick wasn’t really interested in what Thomas was likely to consider a good answer, right at that moment. “Why wouldn’t Higgy fall for someone as smart, and kind, and brave as you, Thomas?”</p><p>“Higgy could do way better - ow!” </p><p>Rick kept his hand in the air, poised to smack Thomas on the back of the head again if necessary. </p><p>“Repeat after me,” he said, sternly. “I am smart, and kind, and all-around awesome - say it,” he added, when Thomas made a face at him. </p><p>“I am smart, and kind, and all-around awesome,” Thomas parroted, only a little hint of mockery in his voice. </p><p>“And Juliet Higgins would be damned lucky to be in love with me,” Rick finished. </p><p>Thomas sighed, but a ghost of a smile was starting to tug at his lips. </p><p>“And Juliet Higgins would be damned lucky to be in love with me,” he echoed, obediently. “Are you done?”</p><p>“That depends,” Rick told him. “Are you going to keep talking shit about yourself?”</p><p>“Not if you’re gonna hit me again,” Thomas said, rubbing the back of his head. </p><p>“It’s called tough love,” Rick replied, “and you’ve done the same for me when I needed it.”</p><p>“I don’t remember my version of tough love involving quite so much violence,” Thomas insisted. </p><p>“I’m adapting my methods to the situation,” Rick said, and Thomas snorted out a laugh. “C’mon, man, it’s late, and I’m tired, and I think we should go crash on the couch in the office until morning.” When Thomas hesitated, he added, “Unless you want to call an Uber and sleep in the guest house with Jin.”</p><p>“Office, it is,” Thomas said, immediately. He pushed himself away from the table, swaying more than a little bit as he stood up. “Or, you know, the floor right here’s looking pretty comfy, too.”</p><p>“Nope,” Rick told him, hooking a hand around Thomas’s arm and steering him toward the office. “Trust me, man, your hungover self in the morning will not be happy if you sleep on the floor.”</p><p>Thomas grumbled a bit, but let himself be towed along in Rick’s wake. He sank down on the couch Rick pushed him toward, eyes closing as he snuggled against the back of the couch with a soft sigh. </p><p>“You’re right,” he mumbled, words already starting to slur a bit. “This’s much better than the floor.”</p><p>“That’s cause I’m a genius,” Rick told him, taking the other side of the couch. “Here’s another genius idea for you: take your shoes off. You’ll thank me in the morning.”</p><p>Without waiting for an answer from Thomas, Rick snagged one of the blankets draped over the back of the couch, tossing it haphazardly in Thomas’s general direction. The blanket wound up mostly on Thomas’s head. </p><p>“Thanks,” came the muffled reply as Thomas pulled the blanket down to a more comfortable position, wrapping it around himself like he was turning himself into a burrito. The office was silent for a few minutes as they both shifted around trying to sleep, and then right as Rick felt himself about to doze off, Thomas spoke up: “Hey, Rick?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Thanks, man, for everything tonight.” Thomas’s voice cracked on a yawn in the middle of his sentence, and Rick looked over to see him staring up at the dark ceiling. “I mean, I still don’t know what I’m going to do-”</p><p>“You’ll figure it out,” Rick told him, firmly. “You always do.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this was originally going to be a one-shot, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized that I just couldn't leave it there</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were halfway back to Robin’s Nest before Kumu broke the silence with: “So are we going to talk about what’s going on with you and Thomas?”</p>
<p>In the passenger seat, Juliet shot her an almost guilty look before  the expression on her face smoothed over into pleasant neutrality. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to keep pretending, you know,” Kumu told her. “Not with me.”</p>
<p>“Kumu, I’m not pretending anything-” </p>
<p>“Try telling that to someone who wasn’t watching you sneak looks at Thomas all night,” Kumu interrupted her. </p>
<p>“I was just concerned-” Juliet started, but then cut herself off mid-sentence at a knowing look from Kumu. “Oh, all right. Maybe I was looking at Magnum a little more than usual, tonight. But that doesn’t mean that there’s anything going on between us.”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t,” Kumu echoed, flatly, her voice positively dripping with skepticism.</p>
<p>“No, it doesn’t.” Juliet kept her own tone firm, hoping that that would be the end of the conversation. </p>
<p>Really, she should have known better. </p>
<p>They drove in silence for another few minutes before Kumu tried a different tack. “You know, there’s just as much risk in your marriage scheme to TC as there was to Thomas.”</p>
<p>Juliet pressed her lips together, tightly. “I know,” she finally admitted, softly. “If TC and I are caught, I’ll still get deported, and TC could lose Island Hoppers. I’m well aware of what could happen.”</p>
<p>“Then why all the fuss of picking TC over Thomas?” Kumu sounded genuinely confused. “If the risk is the same-”</p>
<p>“I’d really rather not talk about it.” Juliet’s voice was far sharper than she’d intended, and she flinched as the words almost exploded out of her. “I’m sorry,” she added, softer, into the silence that filled the car. “But can we please just let it drop?”</p>
<p>Kumu nodded, reaching over and squeezing Juliet’s hand. “Consider that my last word on the subject.”</p>
<p>The rest of the drive was blessedly silent. In the driver’s seat, Kumu was practically vibrating with curiosity; just because she’d promised not to talk about the fake wedding again didn’t mean that she wasn’t clearly dying to. But Juliet was grateful for the silence. She’d had perhaps a bit too much to drink when they’d joined the guys at the bar, and she was afraid of letting something slip in her inebriated state. </p>
<p>Back at the estate, she parked the car in the garage and whistled for the lads as the door shut behind her. She wanted to take a lap of the property with them, let the cool night air clear her head a bit before she tried to get some sleep. </p>
<p>Kumu waved a goodnight as she headed up to the main house, stopping briefly to scratch Zeus and Apollo behind the ears as they trotted past her. Juliet watched until she was safely in the house before turning and heading down to the far end of the property, the lads right at her heels. They ambled along the perimeter until they hit the beach, and then Juliet toed off her shoes and sank her toes into the sand as she walked down toward the water. </p>
<p>She stood in silence at the water’s edge for a while, staring out at the darkness, Zeus and Apollo like sentinels on either side of her. Kumu’s words kept running through her head: <i>‘You don’t have to keep pretending.’</i></p>
<p>“But that’s just it,” she said, softly, “I have to keep pretending. Because I don’t know what’ll happen if I don’t, and that - that scares me.”</p>
<p>She couldn’t hide the hitch in her voice, and Apollo whined and nosed at her hand in response. Juliet smiled as she reached down and scratched him gently behind the ears, and then Zeus a moment later when he demanded his share of her attention. </p>
<p>“Good lads,” she crooned. “You understand, don’t you? I couldn’t ask Magnum to risk everything he’s worked so hard for. Not like this. Not for me.”</p>
<p>“But he would, you know.” </p>
<p>Juliet let out an entirely undignified yelp, spinning around so fast that she almost ended up in the water. She glared halfheartedly at Kumu, as the older woman made her way down the beach to join her. </p>
<p>“Kumu, you startled me,” Juliet told her. </p>
<p>“I didn’t mean to,” Kumu said, an apologetic tone in her voice. “I honestly thought the dogs would alert you that I was coming.”</p>
<p>“They didn’t,” Juliet replied, dryly, turning her glare onto the lads. They were as unaffected by it as Kumu had been. “Kumu, how long have you been standing there?”</p>
<p>“Long enough,” came the reply. “Juliet, Thomas would risk everything for you.”</p>
<p>“I’m well aware,” Juliet said, with a sigh. “But that doesn’t mean I should ask him to.”</p>
<p>“If I recall correctly,” Kumu reminded her, “Thomas is the one who offered.”</p>
<p>“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have,” Juliet snapped, feeling some unidentifiable emotion swell inside her. “He keeps throwing himself headlong into danger for just about everyone he meets - his clients, his friends, now me - he never stops to think that he might face consequences for his actions.”</p>
<p>“Is that really what you’re worried about?” Kumu asked, gently. “Thomas facing the consequences of his actions?”</p>
<p>“Of course I am,” Juliet insisted. “Magnum’s reckless about his own safety, and too compassionate for his own good, and one of these days he’s going to get really, seriously hurt because of it, and I can’t - I <i>won’t</i> let it be because of me!”</p>
<p>“It’s a marriage contract,” Kumu pointed out. “He’s not taking a bullet for you.” When Juliet just shook her head, too tired to say anything else, Kumu went on. “You’re nothing like Hannah, you know.”</p>
<p>Juliet gaped at Kumu in shock. “How did you-”</p>
<p>“Thomas was engaged to Hannah and she hurt him by betraying him in the worst way possible,” Kumu said. “Then he was engaged to you for a fake marriage, and you started to wonder if you were betraying him, too, by asking him to break the law and risk prison for you. Which is absolutely the same as selling him out to the Taliban, you’re right.”</p>
<p>“Well, it sounds ridiculous when you put it like that,” Juliet groused. </p>
<p>“Because it is,” Kumu told her. “Thomas asked you to marry him because he cares about you and he wants to help you. He knew what he was risking when he asked you; he’s not stupid.”</p>
<p>“Let’s not go that far,” Juliet protested, but the words were half-hearted at best. “So, what do I do, Kumu? I still won’t ask Magnum to risk his business and his freedom for me.”</p>
<p>Kumu very tactfully did not point out that she was still asking TC to do the same thing. “Have either of you talked to Mr. Masters about this?” she asked, instead. “You know, the man who sponsored your visa in the first place?”</p>
<p>“Um-”</p>
<p>Kumu chuckled. “I’ll go call Mr. Masters, shall I?”</p>
<p>“Kumu,” Juliet said, “could you maybe not mention the marriage thing to Robin?”</p>
<p>“And deprive you of joy of telling Mr. Masters that neither you or Thomas thought to ask for his help, and instead jumped straight into breaking the law to keep you in the country? I wouldn’t dream of it.” The grin on Kumu’s face was positively gleeful. “I will happily listen in on speaker, though.”</p>
<p>And, really, how could Juliet deny her that?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Morning dawned far too bright and early for Thomas’s liking. </p><p>The sun streaming in through the window was hitting him right in the eyes, sending a stabbing pain through his temples, and he groaned as he threw his arm over his face to block out the light. His mouth felt like he’d been chewing on someone’s old tee-shirt, his head was pounding, and he was beginning to regret ever having touched a single beer last night, let alone however many he’d downed over the course of the evening. </p><p>He woke up alone on the couch; the sound of singing from out in the bar let him know where Rick had disappeared to. Pulling on his shoes, Thomas poked his head out of the office to see Rick dancing his way through opening the bar for the day. If he was at all hungover from the night before, he certainly wasn’t showing any signs of it.</p><p>“Good morning!” Rick sang out, when he turned to see Thomas watching him from the office doorway. “Isn’t it a beautiful, beautiful morning?” There was a devilish grin on his face, the kind of expression that suggested that he was fucking with Thomas simply for the hell of it. Thomas would have been amused, if he hadn’t been so hungover. </p><p>“Have you seen my keys?” he asked, instead, and Rick tossed him the Ferrari keys in an easy, underhand lob that Thomas still almost bobbled. He fumbled frantically with the keys in midair for a couple seconds before finally closing his fingers securely around them, and then looked up to see Rick not even bothering to hide his smirk. “Not a word,” Thomas told him. </p><p>“You know, they do say that your tolerance for alcohol goes down as you get older,” Rick teased him, clearly not intimidated in the slightest. </p><p>“I’m younger than you,” Thomas felt compelled to point out. It may have only been by a year, but he’d take what he could get. </p><p>“I’m blessed,” Rick retorted, an airy tone in his voice, and Thomas shook his head. </p><p>“You’re something, all right,” he shot back. As Rick burst into laughter, he added, “I’m going to head back to Robin’s Nest. Higgins and I have a meeting with a client this morning. Or rather, the client’s divorce mediator. We have a meeting with someone. Maybe multiple someones. I don’t know.”</p><p>Rick snorted. “Try to sound a little more together than that when you talk to Higgins,” he said. </p><p>For a second Thomas was confused, and then he remembered their conversation from last night. Rick had been so persuasive last night, had made the idea of telling Higgins how he felt seem like the best idea in the world. But in the light of day, Thomas could feel all his doubts start to creep back in, again. </p><p>“You are going to talk to Higgins, aren’t you?” Trust Rick to be able to see straight through him.</p><p>“…maybe.”</p><p>Rick may have been on the far side of the room, but Thomas could still sense him rolling his eyes in exasperation. “Thomas, you’re impossible.”</p><p>“Yeah, but you love me anyway,” Thomas shot back. When Rick opened his mouth, Thomas glared him into silence. “I know what you’re going to say, and just don’t. Please.”</p><p>“Not a word,” Rick promised him. As Thomas went out front to get his car, he heard Rick call from behind him, “Hey, TM, when you see Higgins give her my love. Or better yet, give her yours!”</p><p>Thomas flipped Rick off without bothering to look back, the sound of Rick’s laughter following him all the way out to the car.</p>
<hr/><p>The drive back to Robin’s Nest helped clear his head a bit, but Thomas still felt like death warmed over when he pulled into the driveway. Zeus and Apollo waiting for him as his greeting committee didn’t help matters any. </p><p>“I don’t suppose we can skip our usual routine?” he asked, still fully expecting them to chase him across the grounds as he got out of the Ferrari. </p><p>But the dogs surprised him by whining at him, anxiously. One of them - Thomas thought it might be Apollo - shoved his nose into Thomas’s hand like he was expecting to be petted. </p><p>“Okay, this is weird,” Thomas declared, even as he gave the dog a scratch behind the ears. “Did someone replace you two with Stepford puppies while I was gone?” He started toward the guest house, only to be herded insistently back toward the main house before he’d taken a dozen steps. “What the hell, guys?”</p><p>But he turned toward the house anyway, the dogs trailing behind him. They didn’t leave him alone until they’d escorted him to Higgins’s office, and Thomas bit back a grin at the bloodshot expression on her face as she glared down at the paperwork on her desk. </p><p>“Hangover?” he asked, sympathetically. </p><p>“Lads,” Higgins said, ignoring his question, “when I told you to go for help, I was expecting you to fetch Kumu.” The dogs, settling themselves in front of her desk, didn’t look the least bit sorry.</p><p>“It’s Saturday,” Thomas reminded her. “Kumu has that museum committee thing she does every week.”</p><p>“Oh, right.” Higgins let out an absolutely miserable-sounding groan. “I feel like a jackhammer is running at full speed in my head.”</p><p>“I know the feeling,” Thomas told her. “Wait right here, I have just the thing we both need.”</p><p>Going down the hall to the kitchen, he raided the fridge for what he needed. A few minutes of work, and then he went back to Higgins’s office and plunked a glass down in front of her. Higgins eyed the bright green liquid in the glass like he’d just dumped a snake on her desk; Thomas tried not to be offended. </p><p>“A little hair of the dog,” he explained, pushing the glass closer to her. “Nuzo came up with this particular recipe; it works every time.”</p><p>Higgins picked up the glass and took a cautious sip, her face contorting into a pained grimace. “Did you put actual dog hair in this?” she demanded. </p><p>“It helps to drink it really fast,” Thomas advised. Settling his hip on the corner of her desk, he chugged his own drink as fast as he could stand. “I have to admit, I’m surprised to find you hungover,” he said, when he was finished. “It’s kind of nice to find out that you’re as fallible as the rest of us mere mortals.”</p><p>“I’ve had hangovers, before,” Higgins told him, as she finished off her own drink. “Just not in a very long time. I forgot how unpleasant they can be.”</p><p>“I didn’t think you drank that much last night,” Thomas told her. </p><p>“I may have indulged a bit more than I thought I had,” Higgins admitted, sheepishly, and then she narrowed her eyes at him. “Wait a minute, Magnum, were you watching me last night?”</p><p>“No more so than usual,” Thomas said, which was the truth - although he hoped that Higgins didn’t ask him to qualify what he meant by ‘usual’. “So, you ready for our meeting, this morning?” he asked, in a transparent bid to change the subject. From the look on Higgins’s face, she wasn’t fooled for even a second. </p><p>“I just have some paperwork to finish up,” Higgins replied, “and then I’m waiting for a call from Robin-” She broke off as her laptop chimed with an incoming video call, Robin’s face flashing on the screen.</p><p>Thomas snorted out a laugh. “Robin certainly has good timing.”</p><p>“And a flair for the dramatic,” Higgins replied, as she answered the video call.</p><p>“And who, exactly,” Robin asked, “are you calling dramatic?” The call must have connected in time for him to hear the end of their conversation. </p><p>“You, Robin,” Thomas told him, grinning. “Always you.”</p><p>“Well, that’s certainly the pot calling the kettle black,” Robin said, raising an eyebrow at Thomas. “Because I think conspiring to commit immigration fraud with a fake marriage is just a tad over-dramatic, if you ask me.”</p><p>Thomas shot Higgins a look, and she offered up a small smile. “Kumu called Robin last night, after she pointed out that we perhaps should have called him in the first place.”</p><p>“Oh,” Thomas said. “Yeah, in hindsight, that probably would have been easier.”</p><p>“Then breaking the law?” Robin asked, with an incredulous chuckle. “Yes, much easier.”</p><p>“Robin, that’s my fault,” Higgins spoke up. “I should have called you as soon as I got the first notice about my visa expiring.”</p><p>“I bear some responsibility for that, as well,” Robin replied. “I’m your employer; I should have been keeping up with your visa status. If I hadn’t been so busy lately, this never would have become a problem.”</p><p>“Okay, but is it <i>still</i> a problem?” Thomas interrupted him. “I mean, that’s why you’re calling, right? Because you talked to her immigration lawyer and you found a way to get her visa renewed?”</p><p>“It’s amazing how many problems you can make go away if you just throw enough money at them,” Robin said. “Including government problems. Juliet, my dear, your visa is safe.”</p><p>“For another six years, at least,” Higgins said, but Robin shook his head. </p><p>“I convinced the immigration officials to switch your visa from an H-1B to a permanent work visa,” he said. “I know when you first came over, you weren’t sure that you wanted to stay here long-term, which is why we went with the temporary work visa, but I’d say being willing to marry Thomas to stay in the country is a pretty good indicator that you’re here for good.”</p><p>“I thought the permanent work visas were really hard to get,” Thomas said. </p><p>“I can be extraordinarily persuasive,” Robin told him. “I convinced them that Juliet possesses a unique skill set that no one else has, and that I am in dire need of.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s not ominous at all,” Thomas retorted. “You’re making Higgins sound like an assassin for hire.”</p><p>“Oh, nothing like that,” Robin said, with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I simply pointed out that Juliet is indispensable in managing my business affairs. And I may have strongly hinted that she was my muse for a new set of novels.”</p><p>“No,” Higgins said, immediately. “Absolutely not. I already told you, Robin, the work I did for MI6 is highly classified.”</p><p>“And speaking as someone who’s already one of your muses,” Thomas spoke up, “your novels got me kidnapped. Twice.”</p><p>“By the same person,” Robin protested.</p><p>“Yeah, see, that doesn’t make it any better.” Thomas retorted. </p><p>“Sure it does,” Robin said, blithely. “Because that means that there’s only one crazed superfan out there, not two.” Before Thomas could say anything to that, Robin added, “I’ve got another call coming in, so I’m going to sign off. Juliet, your new visa papers are on the way.”</p><p>“Thank you, Robin,” Higgins said. “For everything. And before you go, we need to have the pool table in the guest house recovered. There was an incident with another guest, and I’m afraid it’s not fit to be used.”</p><p>“Whatever you need to do,” Robin said, and then the laptop screen went dark as he signed off the call. </p><p>“Why does the pool table need to be recovered?” Thomas asked, looking at Higgins. “Higgy, what did Jin do to the pool table?”</p><p>“As your partner and your friend,” Higgins said, “I’m asking you to believe me when I say that you’re better off not knowing. I wish <i>I</i> didn’t know.”</p><p>Silence reigned in the office and then, “Did Jin have sex on the pool table?”</p><p>“Near enough,” Higgins told him. “He was-” - she made a sound like she was trying not to be sick - “he was straddling the pool table for a shot. While naked.”</p><p>Thomas shuddered. “That’s an image I’m never getting out of my head.”</p><p>“How do you think I feel?” Higgins asked. “I actually had to see it. And now I can never unsee it.”</p><p>She and Thomas shuddered in unison, and then Thomas clapped his hands, sharply. “Okay, enough with the disturbing talk,” he said, decisively. “I vote we talk about literally anything else. Like what you’re gonna tell TC about the canceled wedding. Or that client meeting we’re gonna be late for if we don’t hurry.”</p><p>“I’ll call TC from the car and update him,” Higgins replied, pushing away from her desk and heading toward the door. “Will you drive? My head is still pounding.”</p><p>“Can do,” Thomas said. “And, hey, Higgy? When we’re finished with this client, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>okay, so it didn't get explicitly romantic, but I felt this ending was more true to their character development. also, I kind of suck at writing romantic confessions, and this was me working around it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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